Different people need different amounts of support in the footwear they wear. In addition, an individual wearer's need for support can vary such that occasionally more or less support may be desirable. For example, in some situations, it may be beneficial to have additional arch support for the wearer, while the support in the heel would be minimized. Alternatively, the wearer may desire to have no support in the heel portion of the sole, but a greater varus angle in the metatarsal region. To accomplish these variations in support and angles, the wearer would be required to purchase footwear configured to each situation or purchase several insoles configured to each situation. Furthermore, some footwear inserts are not held in place, and move out of position causing discomfort to the user.
Another challenge of footwear design is the need to accommodate a wide variety of foot shapes and dimensions, which vary from person to person, while providing a product that is economical. Human feet tend to encompass a wide variety of characteristics including volume, length, arch height, toe dimensions, and various protrusions. The variance in these characteristics causes people's feet to differ significantly from one another and sometimes from foot to foot. To properly provide optimal support characteristics, it is necessary for the article of footwear to correspond as closely as possible to the unique dimensions of a user's foot. An improperly-fitting article of footwear will likely cause pain, injury and damage to a user's foot, leg(s), back, and neck. Therefore, various systems and methods are used to facilitate selecting and/or adjusting existing footwear for a user.
In order to accommodate a wide variety of foot shapes and dimensions, the seller of the footwear or the insole would be required to carry a large inventory having multiple variations of arch support, metatarsal support and heel support of the footwear or insole because these support regions could not be adjusted by the user or at the direction of a third party (such as a doctor or a trainer), which would significantly increase the cost and inventory of the seller and subsequently the consumer.
Thus, there is a need for an adjustable sole support system, in the midsole or in the insole, which allows the user to individually adjust the support in the metatarsal, arch and heel regions. Furthermore, there is a need for an adjustable sole support system, in the insole and the midsole, which allows the user to adjust these regions for use in different activities.